Everybody's Got A Dark Side
by Rochiexoxo
Summary: Hermione Granger is in her 6th year at Hogwarts, and develops a twisted friendship with Draco Malfoy which becomes a whirlwind of events and feelings that could change everything about their future.
1. Chapter 1

As the 6th years filed into their first Transfiguration class of the year, Professor McGonagall raised her wand into the air to get everyone's attention as they took their seats.

"Don't take out your books just yet," she said, craning her thin neck to make sure they were all listening. "I am splitting you into pairs." Her statement was answered with a loud mix of groans and yells of disagreement, some even muttering profanities. No one liked working with anyone other than their friends, because it meant they either had to make awkward conversation with their partner or concentrate.

"I will be calling out your pairs, and you will join your classmate in order to begin this terms topic." She cleared her throat, and began, as everyone prayed silently to themselves that they were put with someone they get along with. "Luna Lovegood, with Blaise Zabini," Luna happily left her seat and crossed the room softly towards Blaise, who was looking extremely embarrassed to have to work with someone so quirky. "Neville Longbottom, with Padma Patil. Ronald Weasley, with Hannah Abbot, Harry Potter, with Ernie McMillan, Hermione Granger, with Draco Malfoy-"

"You what? I am _not_ working with that, that Mudblood!" Draco shouted in shock. His foul words caused Harry and Ron to spin in their step and glare warningly, daring Malfoy to repeat his words.

"Watch your tongue, Mr. Malfoy! I will not hear such language in my classroom! 10 points from Slytherin. And you will work with whoever I tell you to work with. Potter, Weasley, take your seats." She turned to see that Hermione hadn't moved, she was staring at McGonagall in utter confusion. There was no way she would pair them two together. She knew how Hermione and her two best friends had always had nothing but disagreement with the Slytherin boy. But her Professor just told her to get moving.

"But, Professor-"

"No 'buts' Miss Granger. It is about time the houses, especially Gryffindor and Slytherin, interact more. This is school, not a battle-field." Professor McGonagall continued her list of pairs, as Hermione's jaw dropped in disbelief. However, she was a Gryffindor, and McGonagall was right. The house rivalry had gone on long enough, the only problem was, and she had to work with the git she would have hated even if he was mistakenly placed in Gryffindor. But she wasn't going to let it destroy her quality of work, so she took a deep breath, left her seat and sealed her lips together tightly, holding back any bursts of anger she felt like allowing the whole class to hear. As she walked, Harry and Ron stared at her, ensuring Malfoy wasn't a prick to her as usual. But he just sat there, his elbows perched on the desk, his head facing down, held between his two hands covering his ears.

"Don't even bother." He muttered as Hermione sat down. Harry and Ron had turned their backs now, talking to their partners, yet still glancing back to check on their friend. "I am not working with you." He had pulled his arms down to rest on the desk, but he refused to look at her. But Hermione was not having this. No way. He was acting like a child, therefore she would treat him like one.

"Afraid I'll outsmart you or something?" She voiced sarcastically. He glared at her. "For goodness sakes Malfoy grow up. We may not get along but I refuse to fail anything because of you, and I'm sure you feel the same about me. Believe me when I say I don't want to be sat here anymore than you want me to be, but that's how it's happened, so suck it up like the man you seem to believe you are, and get on with it." And she turned to face her Professor, waiting for an explanation of what they would be doing.

Malfoy turned and stared at Hermione, quite surprised with her outburst. He was just about to retaliate when McGonagall started speaking again.

"Now, what you will be doing this term, in your pairs, is studying the Werewolf." She stated. However she was met with panic, and even a few screams, and shouts of "what? Are you mad?"

"Calm down!" She roared. "You will not be going anywhere near a real werewolf. What I want you to do is discover and explain the changes the human body goes through during the transformation, and explain why, in werewolf form, the victim forgets everything about being human. You will be required to make a presentation, both visual and verbal. This task will take up half of the term, as it is a very difficult area to explain, and there is much disagreement. You are also required to include references.t is important that you take this assignment seriously, for it could help you in future. Off you go." McGonagall clapped her hands, and returned to her desk.

"Brilliant!" Hermione exclaimed, forgetting Malfoy's close presence as the excitement filled her. "I've always been so interested in what actually happens to the body as it goes through that transformation, even before I knew werewolves were real." She smiled, while turning to face him, and suddenly being reminded of his existence wiped the smile from her face.

"Great," the white haired, pale boy said. "Now you can be prepared for the next full moon. Oh hang on, that must be this week, with you looking so rough." He smirked. Hermione sighed.

"It's going to take a lot more than insulting comments about my looks to break me, Malfoy, so I'd quit while your behind." She snapped. But she didn't realise she was just baiting herself.

"Whoa, someone's got their knickers in a twist. Don't take your PMS out on me." He paused as he realised exactly what he'd said. Oh this was too easy. "Wait, you have your PMS and your werewolf week at the same time? It's no wonder you're always a moody cow."

She could tell that he was loving this, but she wasn't going to make a scene, and she was most certainly not going to bring herself down to his level.

"Grow up, Malfoy." She replied calmly, "Just shut up and concentrate on the werewolf."

"I'm trying. But it keeps telling me to shut up." He laughed. Wow. He really thought he was hilarious. How pathetic. Even though he wasn't hurting her feelings, he was really hitting a nerve and she was losing her patience. _Don't give him what he wants. You're smarter than that. _ Yes indeed she was. She shook her head, rolled her small eyes and turned to the book in front of her, _Everything You Need To Know About: Werewolves_.

"You amuse yourself as much as you want. When you're ready to finally do any work, you let me know and I might just do my best to help." _That shut him up. _

Malfoy stared at her in surprise. He really didn't know what to say to that, so he followed her actions and turned his head to the old tattered book on his desk.

The lesson did not go well. Every now and then the pair would start up their banter again, and once someone had spoken the last words of intimidation or humiliation, they would become quiet. Any strangers to their world would think this was a class of how to insult others if watching Malfoy and Hermione. She would ask questions along the lines of "how do you think we should say this," or "have you found anything you find interesting," actually trying to work, but he would always reply with blunt statements such as "you're the smart one, you figure it out." She was very surprised that she hadn't ripped all her hair out during that lesson. When the bell rang, Malfoy shot up from his chair and out of the room before she had even noticed the sound of the bell. He left his book open on the desk, and as she went to close it, she saw childish drawings along the edges of the pages, showing a girl with bushy hair and a red and gold tie hanging from her neck, whilst a tall pale boy with a green and silver tie shot water at the girl from a wand in his hand.

"Childish. Utterly pathetic. No respect at all." Hermione muttered as she closed the book and picked it up to take with her, so that she could fix the mess whilst in the common room later on. If she had caught him vandalising the book, she really would have lost it. She believed it was truly disgraceful to destroy something that could be so important. As she looked up from stuffing the books into her already full bag, Hermione saw Harry and Ron walking towards her, their faces serious and worried.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked, approaching. "We thought you were going to hex him or something."

"Bloody deserves it, you should have done it anyway." Ron blurted, watching Hermione softly, as if trying to spot any sign of upset.

"It wasn't that bad." She smiled. Then the three of them burst into laughter, making Hermione forget that she had to see the white ferret a lot in the next 6 weeks. "I'll catch up," she said, her lips falling back into a thin line curved upwards slightly, "I want to talk to McGonagall." The boys began walking away when Ron stopped, and leaned close enough that Hermione could smell spearmint toothpaste on his breath, and his eyes found hers. Her body gave a quick tremble, but she suppressed it well enough that he didn't notice.

"If Malfoy gives you any trouble, you tell me straight away, right?" He whispered. She loved Ron, but his sexism really irritated her sometimes.

"Honestly, Ron, I can take care of myself. In case you have forgotten, I did slap him once. Quite well, if I say so myself." She bragged. Ron smiled, a mischievous look in those gorgeous green eyes of his. Her heart dropped into her stomach.

"How could I forget!" He said excitedly. "It was bloody brilliant." He winked, and oh god she had to fight hard not to fall backwards, as he swept away after Harry. She really had to calm her feelings for him down. It was getting ridiculous.

She made her way over to the teacher's desk once the class had emptied, and cleared he throat as McGonagall looked up over the thin frame of her square glasses.

"Yes, Miss Granger?" she asked as she sat up straight. "What can I do for you?"

"Well, Professor," Hermione took a deep breath. She didn't want to argue with McGonagall, she was her favourite teacher. "I was just wondering, why did you pair me up with Malfoy, out of everyone? It's just, you know his opinion of me and of how strong our conflicts have become in the past. I was just wondering if there was any particular reason you did it, as it may make me feel a bit better about working with him, because honestly, I feel like hexing him every time he opens his mouth." She exhaled, bowing her head bashfully, and looked up towards her teacher.

"Miss Granger," McGonagall said, sighing. "I am afraid I am unable to tell you any more than the fact that Professor Dumbledore asked me to pair the two of you together." Hermione's head shot up. _What? This was Dumbledore's doing?_

"Wh..What?" She said in disbelief.

"All I can say Miss Granger, is that Mister Malfoy is going to be required to make a difficult choice very soon, and Dumbledore believes that a little of your company may steer him to make the right decision. I hope you take into account, that as much as I dislike the idea of you having to spend any time with Malfoy, I trust Dumbledore's judgement even more than my own, and you should too. He knows what he's doing, dear, and I hope you will try your best to deal with Malfoy. If it gets too much, you know where I am." McGonagall smiled as she watched Hermione nod her head and turn to walk away. She was in too much shock to speak. Dumbledore did this? Why? What was the choice Malfoy was going to have to make? This was enough of a motivator for the small girl, though, as she was indeed a Gryffindor, and curiosity always overtook. And, of course, she also trusted Dumbledore's judgement more than her own.

She made her way to her next lesson, Care of Magical Creatures, and as she stepped out into the Hogwarts grounds, the wind hitting her face in a cold snap, she allowed her mind to wander what she was going to experience in the next few weeks as she hurried down to Hagrid's Hut.

The next few days didn't allow any progress with Malfoy. Whatever she said to him, he retaliated with insults which Hermione just shrugged away. Sometimes he didn't speak at all, ignoring her like some child. Considering his age and intelligence, (because she knew, unfortunately, that he was quite clever) he was the most childish person she'd ever met. And she'd know Ron Weasley for 6 years. That's what irritated her most about boys, how pathetically childish they could be. However Hermione wasn't putting up with any of Malfoy's rubbish, so if he ignored her, she would make sure she muttered something witty and insulting about him, though loud enough for him to hear, just to make him feel that small. When told this was Dumbledore's idea, she told herself she would try to make an effort, but she felt he was deliberately trying to wind her up, and she couldn't help thinking it was hopeless. She hadn't managed to find out anything about what this decision was that he was going to have to make, and the worst thing to come from this whole situation was that they hadn't done any work. Well, she had done some preparing, but she wasn't letting Malfoy get away with not doing anything. Even Ron and Harry were ahead of them. She told Malfoy this a week after they'd been paired together, and it seemed to be the push he needed, as this was the lesson he was first civil with her.

"So how are we starting then?" He asked abruptly. This didn't surprise her at all, as this was her intention. Progress at last. Even if he did still have an attitude.

"Well, we will be starting with an introduction. I thought it should just include a summary of what the task is and how you become a werewolf and what the basics are. Is that okay?" She asked when she saw him frown.

"Don't we already know all that from year 3?" he asked, confused.

"Well, yes," Hermione replied, "but if we start with a bunch of new stuff everyone will be confused as to whether we're talking about the same thing and we don't want that because no one will listen and we will have done loads of work for no reason." This all came out in a blast of words that Hermione didn't even hear herself saying. She did that sometimes when explaining things. Her cheeks tinged a pale pink and she looked into Malfoy's eyes for a split second. He was smiling at her. She couldn't help but stare, his grey eyes had locked with her brown ones. Their connection was broken though as a thick strand of her wild hair fell into her eyes and made her blink. He snapped his head back to face the desk as if he'd been caught listening in to a private conversation, except for the fact that she was sure she'd heard him chuckle. She felt each end of her lips curling upwards into a soft smile, as she glided her eyes over his body, which was hunched over the desk, his left harm holding up his head, his right hand moving his quill softly over the parchment in front of him, as if he was drawing something. He was wearing a thin white shirt, his Slytherin tie hanging from his neck, and she could see the shape of his torso through the white fabric. She felt so peaceful watching him that she jumped in shock when he spoke.

"So when you're done staring at my ass," he mocked, "maybe you could write an introduction, as I am doing, and we can decide which ones best when we're done." He turned his head so his eyes were smirking at her from the top of his shoulder, and her cheeks turned an even darker pink.

"I wasn't staring at your backside, Malfoy," she shot, "I was simply thinking how to start the introduction." She said no more as he turned his head back with a sarcastic nod. Seriously embarrassed and panicked, she turned onto the desk and began writing her introduction.

_What the hell was she doing?_ Malfoy asked himself once she had settled in her seat and had the back of her bushy hair facing him. _Was she really staring at my ass? _It should have disgusted him, but strangely he felt a small smile creeping up his face. _For Merlin's sake Malfoy stop it before she sees you and asks what's so funny. What you going to say? I thought it was nice that you were looking at my ass? Why are you even thinking about this, get back to work. _Focusing on the parchment in front of him, Malfoy put his quill in the ink and onto the parchment. But he couldn't think of one word to write. Instead he just let his hand move as it wanted as he fell into a daydream about him and Granger arguing. Why, he had no idea, but he enjoyed it, and he was pretty much controlling what they did and said to each other, and told himself he was practising for their next match. Twenty minutes later, he was pulled out of his daydream by her, whispering his name.

"Malfoy? Malfoy!" she said, bringing him back to earth slowly. "Have you finished?" she asked, staring down at him and pulling her parchment between them. He didn't even know the answer to her question until he looked at his own parchment and saw the exact same eyes staring back at him. _Oh shit. _He thought, panicking. _Did I really draw them? _He looked back at the real life eyes and saw them fall to his drawing. _Oh god oh god oh god_.

"Where's your introduction?" she asked, looking sceptically at her own eyes, however not recognising them. She probably didn't look in the mirror enough. Shame, he thought, if he was a girl with her eyes he'd spend all day in the mirror, they were gorgeous. _WAIT! WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU SAYING? What the hell is wrong with you? _He couldn't answer however as she had interrupted his thoughts. Again.

"Malfoy, is this all you've done all lesson? You've been drawing? You haven't written a word!" She said impatiently, still waiting for an answer.

"I couldn't concentrate," he replied. It was sort of true, he supposed. Forcing himself to daydream certain things wasn't exactly 'couldn't', it was more like 'wouldn't'. "Just, let me see yours." He said, snatching her work from her as she opened her mouth to protest, but decided against it with a sigh. After a few moments of frowning repeatedly, Malfoy threw the parchment back at her. "That was rubbish." He exclaimed sharply. Bad idea.

"What?" she said, in shock.

"It was so boring, all you said was 'we will be analysing blah blah blah,' and 'a werewolf must attack you for you to become one blah blah blah'. It's just a load of obvious rubbish, you're going to send people to sleep." _Ooh, you're going to regret that. _He told himself.

"Excuse me!" She was angry. _Shit. How was he going to get out of this?_ "How DARE you tell me my work is rubbish when you haven't done _anything_! At least I did the work! And I bet you wouldn't be able to do any better!" She was cut off by the bell ringing for lunch, and Malfoy scooped up his parchment in his arms and flew from his seat. _Saved by the bell. _"I'm not done with you, Malfoy!" he heard her call after him. He made it out as far as the hall when she caught up with him. "HEY! DON'T YOU DARE WALK AWAY FROM ME WHEN I'M TALKING TO YOU!" she shouted, not caring if the whole school heard. Unlike him. What would everyone say if they knew a mud blood was shouting at him, Draco Malfoy? But then again he didn't really want to retaliate from fear of making her scream at him. He turned on his heel, and stared back at her.

"What do you want? Can't get enough of me, eh, Granger?" He said smugly. He saw her pause for a second, as if she didn't believe what he'd called her. But then the anger returned.

"I don't believe you! Who the hell do you think you are? You think just because you get paired up with someone you get to slack off while they do all the work?" By this time, the weasel and Potter had emerged from the classroom and stood behind her, Weasley putting his hand on her hip and whispering something in her ear. This made Malfoy shudder. However she pushed the ginger rat away and snapped something like "get off, Ron!" and she stormed right up to Malfoy until they were only 2 feet away from each other. "You think you're so smart don't you? We were given this task a week ago, Draco, and you haven't written a damn word!" He shot up from his self-pitiful slouch at the sound of her saying his name. His first name. She'd never called him that before. No student at this school ever called him Draco. At this thought, he felt a pool of heat gather in his stomach. "What is wrong with you? Can't you hear me?" Her voice travelled back into his ears. _Are you really going to take this from **her**? _He asked himself.

"Not all of us can be know-it-all mud bloods!" he shouted. He didn't mean to say it, he actually didn't this time, but it received an answer that actually pleased him. At his words, Weasley had shot forward at Malfoy, but all he got was a push, because as Malfoy stumbled back, Granger had thrown herself in front of Weasley and pushed him, not once, but twice, with enough force to push a rocket into space.

"FOR GODRIC'S SAKE RON, STAY OUT OF THIS!" She screamed, watching him fall to the floor, staring back up at her in shock. Potter joined Weasley's side on the floor as if to try and stop him from getting murdered. Honestly, Malfoy couldn't blame them, Granger was bloody scary right now. She shot even closer to Malfoy. Their faces were inches away from each other now. _Oh God, those eyes! _"Grow up, Malfoy!" she growled. "You're at school now! You have to fend for yourself! You're not at home with your so called amazing family, there's no one to treat you like their precious little son who can do no wrong!" _WHAT? WHAT! _She had hit a nerve. Now he was angry. But he wasn't going to lose control. No way. She wasn't winning this.

"You know nothing about my family! You have no idea!" He sneered back. "Who are you to make assumptions about what goes on in my house?"

"Who are you to make assumptions about who I am because of my blood-status?" She whispered, as if she was breaking slowly. Okay. He wasn't expecting that. Draco's face dropped, eyes widening with sudden realisation, and possible self-disgust. She must have noticed this, as she took a deep breath and let out a long, tired sigh. "Oh my goodness." She said, realising she had gone too far. I'm sorry Draco. You're right, I have no place to make assumptions about your family. But you are so clever, Draco I know you are," there it was again. Her voice seemed softer now, as if she was almost trying to be affectionate with him, yet harsh at the same time. "It just irritates me that you don't use it. You don't have to be who your parents tell you to be." He broke at this. He started shaking. _What the hell was going on!_

"You don't understand." He whispered. "You could never understand. You don't know them, and you don't know me. So don't pretend that you do." He pulled back, but at that moment he felt cold, soft hands covering his, and the chill passed through his body like a rush of fresh winter air. She was holding his hands, and staring up at him.

"I know I don't Draco. But maybe if you helped me to, you might feel better." Her voice, his name coming from that voice. He suddenly really wanted to tell her everything. Everything he was feeling, how he felt about his family, how much pressure he felt to please them despite his own beliefs, how bloody confusing the past hour had been. But he was slowly coming back to reality and he noticed the sea of faces surrounding them. Slytherins staring wide-eyed in shock, Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs stood with their hands over their mouths, whispering to one another. And the Gryffindors, all looking menacingly at Malfoy, as if he had just stabbed her or something. He felt a rush of heat explode inside him and snatched his hands away from Granger, knocking her back a few steps.

"Get off me!" He shouted. They stared at each other for a few seconds, her hands holding each other nervously, her eyes swelling as if she were about to cry. _Oh no, he did that. He made those eyes cry. FOR GOD SAKES DRACO GET OUT OF THERE!_ He snapped out of his guilt and swept out of the hallway, down towards the dungeons where the Slytherin common room and dorms lay.

_What on earth just happened? _Hermione asked herself as she turned to face Ron and Harry, looking at her wide-eyed, waiting for an attack. She took a deep breath to calm herself, closed her eyes, and exhaled. When she opened her eyes, the boys were walking towards her warily.

"Hermione, are you okay?" Harry asked, trying to make eye contact, but Hermione just stared at the floor.

"I. I don't know." she replied, finally looking up at them, with a troubled look. "What just happened?" she asked, wanting to hear their point of view.

"Well, we don't know how it started, but when we left the classroom you were out here shouting at Malfoy, and then Ron tried to calm you down and you pushed him away." He paused as he looked between his two friends, as if waiting for a few words of apology, but Hermione never took her eyes off of Ron. "Then he called you, you know, and Ron and I flipped but Ron went for Malfoy and you went for him. You pushed him to the floor, Hermione."

"Yeah, but I only fell 'cos I was so shocked." Ron interrupted, defending his dignity. Hermione shot him a look that could kill. _He needs to watch himself. _She thought. He had annoyed her so much by throwing himself into her and Malfoy's argument. "You held his hands, Hermione. Why would you do that?" He looked more offended than he was hurt, and this angered Hermione even more. Harry seemed to notice.

"Plus you called him Draco," he said, "since when have you done that?" Hermione replied with a sigh and shook her head, lost for words of how to explain the occurrence. "What's going on with you?" he asked.

"Honestly, I think I over reacted a little. He hadn't done any work after saying he had and I suppose I just lost it. I've had a lot on my plate this week." She lied. She honestly didn't know what the hell was happening between her and Malfoy, but for some reason it scared her, even more scared than she was facing that troll at 11 years old, or even more terrified than she was when she found out that Voldemort had returned two years ago. But, strangely, it was a good kind of scared.


	2. Chapter 2

It was Friday, which meant Hermione didn't have another lesson with Malfoy until Monday, but despite the fact that she didn't really want to see him, the fact that they were not doing any work was really bugging her. She considered doing it herself, but she wasn't going to allow him an A for not doing a thing. She had spent most of the day reliving what had happened that morning, but she just could not get her head around it. Why had she become so angry? And why _had _she called him Draco? And held his hand? She remembered feeling so guilty, as if she'd hurt someone she loved, which is why she had reached for his hands, as if to apologize. _But I don't love Draco. Far from it._ There it was again. She had called him Draco, even in her thoughts. _What is going on? _She thought to herself whilst sat alone in the library that night. She needed to talk to him. She couldn't concentrate on her work, and she couldn't think about anything other than him. Deciding that if she was going to do it, it should be now, she slammed the book _Charms for the Advanced _shut, put it back on the shelf where she had found it and left the library.

Her first thought was that he would be in his common room, but somehow she felt it unlikely he would be there when he didn't have to be. Where else was she going to find him? She didn't really want to ask any Slytherins in case they snapped at her. Luckily though, she spotted a Ravenclaw prefect and decided that they would have probably seen him on their travels. She approached the young curly haired girl and asked, and got the reply she was looking for.

"I've just seen him sat under a tree outside, go out this door here," she pointed to the door she had just come from, "and go down the steps, but don't follow the path. He was under one of the trees on the right hand side. I barely saw him because he was so far into all the trees, the only reason I recognised him was because of that shiny hair of his." This girl seemed very uninterested in Hermione's intentions, which of course she was grateful for, but seemed very interested in talking. With this thought, she gave a thank you and swept out of the door leading to the grounds. The air was humid and warm, and she felt her hair frizzing up immediately, but she didn't really care, she'd never really cared about her appearance until she'd fallen for Ron, and even now she knew her hair was uncontrollable so she'd given up. She reached the edge of the trees and scanned the surrounding, looking for a flash of pearly blonde hair. Then she saw it, and she suddenly felt a jolt in her stomach as if she was pleased to see him. She took a deep breath and walked over to where he was sitting, back leaning against the tree, a roll of parchment resting on a book on his knees. He was drawing again. He must have been so deep in thought because Hermione called his name and he didn't even blink, so she stepped closer, and cleared her throat as loudly as possible. His head shot up, and at the sight of her hastily rolled up the parchment, placed it out of sight and shot onto his feet, towering over her. Her heart skipped a beat, and she looked up at him with soft eyes, and a sweet smile.

"What the fuck do you want?" He snapped, still breathing heavily from his panic. She winced at his use of curse words but shook it off and kept her face welcoming.

"Sorry I startled you," she began, dropping her head bashfully as his eyes stared into hers, "I did call for you, but you were so lost in your drawing that you didn't hear me." She laughed nervously, looking back up at him. She felt so tiny beside his tall, slender body.

"That doesn't answer my question." He snarled. She took a breath. _Patience, Hermione. _ She reminded herself.

"Look, I just, I wanted to talk about what happened earlier, and I wanted to apologize about what I said, it's not my place to say anything about you family, and I'm truly sorry." She sighed. That wasn't so hard.

"Good, so you should be," he snapped, "anything else?" He was trying his best to make this difficult for her but she saw straight through it. She knew he wanted to know what happened today as much as she did, and she wasn't leaving until it was sorted.

"Draco please, will you sit, and talk to me like a civil human being? We need to talk about what happened today and we're not going to get any work done if we don't." She kept her lips in a firm line, her eyes pleading yet hard at the same time. He sighed, nodded, and sat down back into his position against the tree, and pulled out a fresh piece of parchment and a quill and began drawing again, as if it helped him concentrate. She sat down beside him, legs crossed, elbows resting on her knees and her hands moulding together. She opened her mouth to speak but he beat her to it, speaking in a slow voice, as if trying to figure out a puzzle, and hearing his own voice trying to explain it would help.

"I, I don't really know what happened. I criticised your work and you lost it." He said.

"Because you hadn't done anything for almost half an hour." She replied patiently.

"I couldn't concentrate. I was distracted."

"Okay, by what?"

He looked up at her, straight into her eyes. He wanted to say "you" but he couldn't let himself. He had to have more time on his own before he went that far.

"I don't know," he said, still staring into her eyes, which were staring back. "Just drawing, I guess."

She broke their eye contact and looked to the piece of parchment. He followed her gaze. He hadn't drawn much, but what he had managed to do was the trunk of a tree, with butterflies flying around it and an owl poking its head through a little hole in the trunk. Why he'd drawn this, he did not know, but it was better than drawing her and having her realise.

"You're very good at it." She traced her thumb over the parchment, the butterflies flying towards it. She giggled, and he felt a pang in his stomach, as if it was the most beautiful sound he'd ever heard.

"I love art." She said. "In the Muggle world drawings and paintings usually reflect the feelings of the artist, or tell a story." She laughed again, and pointed at his drawing. "I think this one could be the start of a beautiful fairy-tale." She said. He smiled and gave a quick chuckle.

"Hm. Yeah, maybe I could turn it into a picture book." He turned his face back to hers, only to gasp with surprise at how close she was. So close, in fact, that he could feel her warm breath on his chin, and he could smell a hint of apple in it. He looked into her eyes. She was still admiring the picture when she moved back and caught his gaze. She smiled, and he smiled back, and they stayed like that for a couple of seconds, only to have the moment ruined by a crow flying out of a nearby tree, making a loud rustling noise in the leaves. They both looked up to the source of the noise, and Draco seized the opportunity to look at her again. Her creamy white skin was like a canvas on her face, and with her piercing brown eyes, perfectly shaped nose and pale pink lips, he couldn't help think that she herself was a piece of art. A masterpiece for that matter. He could draw her and only her for the rest of his life. As his eyes travelled to her mess of hair, he noticed a couple of red leaves tangled into it, making her look like some kind of beautiful forest creature. He reached to remove the leaves from her hair, but at his touch Hermione jumped and their eyes met once again. She was looking at him in confusion, but it was as though she was amused. "Sorry," he said, "you've got leaves in your hair." She sat up as he raised his hand again, dying to touch the golden curls and feel them beneath his fingers, but she beat him to it and he dropped his hand immediately, turning his head away.

"Oh, this bloody hair," she said, irritated, trying to untangle the leaves without tangling her hair even more. "You wouldn't believe the trouble it gives me in the mornings. I don't even bother trying to put it up anymore, it just takes too much energy. It's at its worst in this humid weather, it just goes wild. I wish I knew some kind of spell to tame it, even just a little." She looked at Draco and he snorted, and her cheeks turned a powdery pink. "Sorry," she said, "here I am going on about my hair to a boy who's hated me for 6 years." At this, his head shot back to her gaze, as if she'd just swore.

"I've never hated you, Granger."

They stayed there for an hour, talking, and they had both found it a little awkward at first but then it just felt so normal, as if they'd known each other for years. They talked about Transfiguration and agreed that they would both come up with ideas and write notes, and would meet again the next day to catch up with everyone else. They had talked about what they wanted to do in their careers, neither of them were sure. They had even reminisced memories of the past few years at Hogwarts, talking about various teachers and subjects. They did disagree sometimes, well, most of the time actually, but it was more like friendly banter than actual arguments. Hermione had felt so comfortable it was so strange, yet so right, and as she walked up to the Gryffindor common room she remembered his words. "I've never hated you, Granger." He said. Each time her head replayed these words to her she smiled the biggest smile she had done since she'd been paired with him. Something was changing between them, and she felt that it was for the better, but she still knew there would be inevitable problems if they were to ever become friends.

She declared the password to the fat lady, and climbed through the portrait hole. The common room wasn't very full, it hadn't been at all this year since Fred and George were no longer here to cause the havoc that she actually missed. She smiled at the thought of them and turned to see Harry and Ron, sat in their favourite armchairs by the fire and she walked over to join them.

"Hello." She said as she dropped her bag by the side of her chair and fell into it, feeling herself relax against the fabric as Crookshanks jumped onto her lap.

"Where have you been?" Harry asked, as though it was one o clock in the morning. She didn't want to lie to them, but she didn't really want to tell them the whole truth either, knowing how they would react to hearing that she was becoming friends with Draco Malfoy.

"I was in the library." She said, honestly.

"You're never there this late," said Ron suspiciously. She'd been in such a good mood that she'd almost forgotten all her feelings for him, but his words brought them all back, and it flattered her that he would notice this. "Have you been outside? Your hairs all matted." And at these words, she was ripped from her high. Great, now the main thing she hates about herself the person she loves hates it too. But then Draco's words echoed in her head once again and she tried to repress a smile. She had to tell them. They would find out anyway.

"I was with Draco." She said in a matter of fact tone- but then realised she'd said Draco and panicked.

"Who?" Harry and Ron shouted in horror.

"Malfoy. I went looking for him because I wanted to sort out what happened today. We're almost two weeks behind everyone else so I went to talk to him so that we could agree to be civil at least until we've finished the task." She lied this time. They were being rather more than civil, and she hoped it would carry on long after the task was finished.

"And you went after him without telling us?" Ron said, as if he was her bodyguard. _Here we go again, _she thought.

"Yes, Ronald," she snapped, "As I have told you time and time again I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself." She felt her heart race now, beating against the feeling of it being crushed.

"Well, yeah, when you're using magic," he said, not even looking at her, "but Hermione, what if he'd called you a, you know? Then what would you have done? You would have been too upset to do anything about it, which is where I would come in and beat the ferret to a pulp." He laughed. She felt like he didn't take her seriously at all, and this both broke her heart and infuriated her, plus the fact that he thought himself brave yet he couldn't even say words like "Mudblood," or "Voldemort."

"Called me a what? Ron? A Mudblood?" She was shouting now.

"Hermione, don't..."

"Don't what Ronald? Say Mudblood? Why? It's just a word! It's never affected me in the past other than the first time it was used against me, since then it's just made me stronger. Why are you so afraid of it?" She was trembling, anger and heartbreak and humiliation burning up inside of her. "Is that what you think of me?"

"WHAT?" Ron shouted, getting to his feet, Harry following in order to try and restrain him. Hermione stood also. "Hermione, you know I don't think of you like that!"

"Then what do you think of me Ron? Huh? You're always talking down to me, are you ever going to realise that I'm in lo..." She broke off. _Oh my god. I almost told him. _Her heart was pounding against her ribs, she could almost hear it screaming in anger and frustration and hurt and all sorts of emotions she wasn't used to. She looked at him in fear, and judging by the expression on his face she knew that he had guessed what she was going to say. Harry had too, as he was staring at Hermione, jaw almost on the floor. She felt her chest rising and falling rapidly under the sounds of her sharp breaths. She looked back at Ron, who was staring back in shock, and then she saw a smile curling up his face.

"Hermione, do you really" he reached for her hand "do you really feel that way about me?" Harry soon shot out of sight, leaving the two of them alone. Her lips were trembling, her eyes were wide with panic, and she could hardly breathe.

"I. I. I'm going to bed." She said, and shot out of the room as if a summoning spell had been put on her. As she entered her dorm, the other girls stared at her, they had obviously overheard what was going on downstairs, but she just walked straight past them to her bed and drew the curtains around her, then cast a silencing charm around herself. She was in so much shock she wanted to cry. She put both hands on her forehead as if trying to magically clear her mind, but all she could do was scream. She had so many feelings pulsing through her right now that she couldn't think straight. _Breathe, Hermio__ne, breathe. Come on you're stronger than this. Breathe, calm down, and try and get to sleep._ With this thought, she closed her eyes and took deep, slow breaths, until she was calm, and worn out. She fell asleep almost instantly, the day replaying in her head like a dream. The only part that repeated though was her outdoor meeting with Draco, and as she slept, a smile formed on her lips.

* * *

><p>Malfoy awoke the next morning with a pounding headache. It had taken him hours to get to sleep, and after looking at the clock and seeing it was 8 a.m., he realized he had only managed 6 hours sleep, whereas usually he could sleep all day without a problem. All night he had been thinking about his encounter with Granger, and he had never felt so much confusion in his life. He did hate Granger, well at least he used to, so why had he told her different? Maybe he didn't want to think of how it would make her feel to have it confirmed. The way things were changing between them frightened him. He hated himself for letting it happen, he knew he shouldn't be acting like this, she was a Mudblood for Salazar's sake, and he was a damn Malfoy. People like him wouldn't look twice at people like her, and dreaded his father's reaction to him having decent conversations with Granger. He had to stop this. However he couldn't deny that he was warming to her. She was smart, headstrong, and although he hated to admit it, he found her beautiful. The only thing holding him back was his family's beliefs and the fact that she was a Mudblood. He had felt so comfortable the day before that he decided it couldn't do any harm if he were to be friendly with her, as long as no one saw them together outside of class, he could not take the comments from his fellow Slytherins if that was to happen, especially from Pansy.<p>

Granger had decided for them to meet underneath the same oak tree that Draco went to when he wanted to think or just have some peace. It was, you could say, his special place that no one else knew about, and it felt strange yet comforting to know that he was now sharing it with Granger. They were not meeting until 2pm though, so he got dressed and left his dorm to go for a walk around the Hogwarts grounds, taking advantage of the beautiful day. Luckily, he got out just as Crabbe and Goyle began to stir, fortunately avoiding the "where are you going?" and "I'll come with you." He had loved it in the first two years, but now he was so sick of them being so far up his arse that he was surprised he wasn't telling them to get lost.

Draco made his way down to the small pebbled beach leading to the lake, and started skipping rocks. The atmosphere was different at Hogwarts this year. He didn't know what, but he had the strongest feeling that something big was coming.

* * *

><p>Hermione went downstairs into the common room to find it quiet as usual, and sat down alone at a table and opened her copy of <em>Advanced Potion Making<em>, trying to distract herself from the inevitable conversation with Ron that would soon come. She wasn't surprised though, when Harry came downstairs alone, heading straight for Hermione.

"Morning." He said as he took a seat next to her.

"Morning, Harry," she replied, not taking her eyes from her book. She heard Harry sigh.

"Look, Hermione, about last night-" he began, but she cut him off.

"Ron sent you down here, didn't he?" she snapped, slamming the book closed and turning to meet Harrys shocked expression.

"No, he's still sleeping, I wanted to talk to you about it."

"About what?" she asked, feigning innocence.

"Hermione I know you like Ron." She looked up with a start, eyes wide open, and opened her mouth to speak but Harry stopped her. "It's not just because of yesterday, I've known for ages. To be honest I think I knew before you did!" he laughed. Hermione just stared. "Look. I know because I feel the same way about Ginny, and don't act surprised because I know you know"-he said as Hermione had looked up-"I see you looking at Ron the way I feel I look at Ginny, and I know, it's a horrible feeling thinking that he doesn't like you back but Hermione you have to believe me when I say that he does. He has done ever since fourth year when he saw you at the Yule Ball."

"No. He, he can't possibly, he's never shown any sign, anytime I've been forward with him he's ignored it."

"Because he doesn't realise you're doing it, you know what Ron's like." Hermione didn't have an argument for this. Harry was probably right, Ron was quite oblivious. The realisation that he might actually feel the same way made her chest swell and created a big pool of heat in her stomach, and she smiled.

"You should know too, that Ginny feels the same way about you. She never stops talking about you, she really loves you." Harry smiled at this.

"I know." He said. Hermione frowned in confusion. "We've actually been going out with each other since The Hogwarts Express, we spoke about it while you and Ron were on Prefect duty, and we've been keeping it a secret until now, we haven't told anyone because we don't want Ron to go mad." He smiled, and then scowled at the thought of Ron's reaction.

"Oh, Harry!" Hermione threw her arms around him and squeezed him into a tight hug, "I'm so happy for you." She pulled back. "Ron won't mind you know, Ginny's openly liked you for years and he's never warned you away from her." She said.

"I suppose you're right. Okay, I'll make you a deal. You talk to Ron and get yourselves sorted out, and I'll tell him about me and Ginny. Today." Hermione took a deep breath.

"I…I don't know Harry, I'm not sure I-"

"Hermione, you and Ron are perfect together. You already act like an old married couple so I doubt that much will change" Harry smiled. Hermione returned a wary smirk.

"Ok, deal," she said, but not now, I'll do it tonight, I'm meeting Malfoy later and I don't want Ron to try and stop me."

"You're meeting him again?" Harry said in disgust.

"Yes, Harry, we're so far behind everyone else, we just have to get some work done outside of lessons. Besides, he's changing, the way he was with me last night was like a completely different person. I really do think he's changing for the better, Harry. And honestly, I quite enjoy his company now." She said honestly. Harry was her best friend, and she wasn't going to keep things from him. He stared at her in utter disbelief, but obviously decided there was no point arguing with her, as he sighed and said,

"Just, just be careful, Hermione, for all you know, he could be changing for the worse." And at this point their conversation was terminated as Ron and Ginny entered the room, and Hermione and Harry looked at each other with a smirk, each turning red as if they could read each other's minds.

* * *

><p>By the time her meeting with Malfoy had arrived, Hermione had finished all her homework in the hopes that she could concentrate on Transfiguration for the rest of the weekend, and also so that she could avoid any serious conversation with Ron. She was extremely nervous about telling him but she was also quite excited. She knew it could either go perfectly well and she and Ron would finally be together, or it would all go wrong and he would never speak to her again. All she could do was hope for the first option. She looked at her watch and saw that it was 1:45, so she closed her books and got up from the table in the corner of the Gryffindor common room at which she, Harry, Ginny, and Ron were all sat.<p>

"I have to go." She declared as she swooped her stuff up into her arms. Harry's eyes flew up to catch hers, a warning glare in them, to which she answered with a roll of her eyes and subtle shake of her head. Harry kept his gaze on her as Ron spoke.

"Where are you going?" He asked abruptly, as if he didn't want to miss a thing.

"I need to go to the library so I can find some books on werewolves for this Transfiguration assignment." She said, trying to keep her voice still. Ron began to gather his work, too.

"I'll come with you," he said. Hermione gave a start at this and said, a little too quickly,

"No! You can't." Seeing the shocked disappointment on Ron's face she explained. "It's just, we're so far behind, I need to get as much work done as possible, and you being there will just distract me." The three pairs of eyes looking at her softened, and Harry struggled to hide a smile, at which Hermione turned red.

"Oh, okay." Ron said, sitting back down. "I'll see you later then."

"Yes, um, okay," she replied, picking up her back and throwing a look at Harry who was now shaking trying to hide his laughter, while Ginny patted his back, looking at him confused. Hermione swung her bag over her shoulder and walked towards the portrait hole. As she began to climb through, she heard Ron's voice again.

"What's so funny Harry?" And at this, Hermione started laughing to herself.

* * *

><p>Authors Note: Hi guys I just want to say thank you to everyone who read the first chapter and added it to your favorites or story alerts and I'm glad you enjoyed it.<p>

This chapter is a little earlier than I had planned but I'd done writing it and wanted to get it uploaded before Glee starts again next week.

I hope you liked this chapter, please review, and THANK YOU xxxxxx


	3. Chapter 3

As she made her way quietly towards Malfoy, whose hair was again glistening through the trees, Hermione felt a twinge of excitement in her chest, and smiled as she approached him, finding his concentration once again locked on his drawing. She felt the sudden urge to just sit there next to him, and watch him draw, to observe his ways and learn as much as she could about him just by looking. But, instead, she decided to have a little fun, and dropped down beside him, chirping a very loud "hello!" Jerking away, Malfoy dropped his parchment and knocked over the ink resting on the ground beside him.

"Merlin's Beard, Granger, you scared the shit out of me," he said, with a little chuckle. Hermione, in her hyperactive state, feigned insult and replied with a defensive tone,

"I didn't realise my face was so frightening!"

"It's not your face, it's your damn hair," he said, throwing a strand playfully over her shoulder, "I thought you were being attacked by a giant pygmy-puff!" At this, Hermione replied with a laugh so loud she startled herself and turned instantly red in the cheeks.

"That's how I feel when I look in the mirror," she retorted, smiling childishly. "How's my picture book coming along?" she asked, referring to the drawing Malfoy had in his hands, the same he was working on last night.

"Not too badly, I've nearly got the first page finished," he said, picking the drawing up to show her properly. He had added some colourful flowers, the leaves of the tree, and a bright, big sun shining from the corner of the page. "I think that's all I'm going to do on this one, so you can have it as a little introduction."

Hermione was rather surprised by his words. He had said she could have it, but she really was not expecting him to agree to it being _her _picture book. She was all for it, but she just didn't think he would be. But the fact that he was, made her even happier.

"Sounds good," she said. "Shall we get started on Transfiguration then?"

"Sounds good." He repeated, a mocking smirk forming on his lips.

As Hermione took Malfoy through her ideas, he couldn't help watching her, smiling subtly, but fondly. He could sit there and watch her all day long. He could even listen to her all day. He found the way she spoke so mesmerising, as if it was her way of sharing how that brilliant mind of hers worked. He wanted to touch her hair again, to stroke the thick, beautiful waves of her bushy mane. He felt it as if it were a craving for some kind of comfort. He knew he shouldn't be thinking of her like this, but what was the harm in him thinking her beautiful? It wasn't hurting anyone. No one knew what he was feeling, and they never would. It would be his little secret, the one that made him grin widely just before he fell asleep to just as he woke up.

Despite being so enchanted by her, he forced himself to make an effort with the assignment, mainly to please her. He asked questions at the right time, suggested a point when needed, and debated how to explain it best. Unusually, he felt something he never felt whilst doing school work. He felt something he hadn't felt for quite some time. He was enjoying himself, without force, without pretending to be someone he wasn't, and he felt happier than he could remember being for a long time.

They stayed at that spot for three whole hours, trying to get as much work done as possible, and discussing their own opinions on not just the werewolf, but other magical creatures. They were learning more about each other by the second and with each heartbeat they felt closer to one another and were both having fun, which felt very strange, considering they were supposed to hate each other. At one point, Malfoy had made such a funny comment that Hermione was almost in tears with laughter, her sides tensing, her body shaking violently, as Malfoy smiled in awe at how adorable he felt her laugh was, and he suddenly felt the urge to tickle her, just so see how much she could take, but he decided against this, it was a little too far too soon. Instead he laughed with her and thought about how remarkable it was to see that someone could laugh this much when there was a war on its way.

This thought stayed with him for the rest of the day. He pondered over how much things had changed between him and Granger over the past 24 hours, and how much would change again once the war really hit. It was surreal, how little he thought about it when he was with her, yet any other time it seemed all he could think about. He thought about his father, locked up in Azkaban, Dementors following his every move, sucking out every happy thought he had ever had. Which really shouldn't have taken too long. His father had always been a miserable prick, always taking his anger out on him and his mother. Malfoy thought about his mother, how lonely and scared she was probably feeling every day, probably having to carry out the tasks Voldemort had intended for her husband. Of course, she had Bellatrix to keep her company, but Malfoy knew nobody would want to be left alone with the deranged death eater, not even Voldemort himself. He often worried about his mother since his return to Hogwarts, knowing how she had never wanted anything to do with the Dark Arts, how she felt Draco's father had dragged them into it through fear, but there was no way she would ever defy him. Despite the fact Lucius treated his wife and son like shit, Narcissa would never leave, she loved him too much.

_My family is so fucked up_, Malfoy thought to himself, whilst drawing in his dormitory a couple of hours after leaving Granger. He couldn't help hope, that if he followed the right track this year, _her _track, he could try and pull his family away from the darkest side of this world before it was too late.

* * *

><p>When Hermione reached Harry and Ginny at the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall for dinner that night, she saw that they were holding hands, not caring about onlookers, but Ron was nowhere to be seen. She was afraid to ask, but she had made a deal with Harry and needed to find him.<p>

"Ron didn't take it well then, I suppose," she said to Harry, taking her seat opposite the couple.

"Surprisingly he was ok with it," he replied, smiling at Ginny and squeezing her hand so that she rested her head upon his shoulder, "he said he'd much rather Ginny be with me than anybody else, so that's a good thing."

"We hope," said Ginny, mockingly.

"So where is he?" Hermione asked, trying not to look so desperate to find him, to have what Harry and Ginny had. She just couldn't wait any longer.

"He should be along in a minute, he was just reading something as Ginny and I left the common room." Harry said. Hermione nodded, wanting to go and get Ron so that she didn't feel like a third wheel, but she thought it would look childish and any way, Harry stopped her. "So how was Malfoy?" he said in a mocking tone. Hermione rolled her eyes, and Ginny looked between the two of them, confused.

"Don't start, Harry," Hermione said. "If you must know, he's fine, we're both fine, and he didn't make one snarky comment." That was a lie, he had made a few, but they were not aimed at Hermione, more at teachers and students, most of which had made her laugh. "And if you don't mind, Harry, I'd appreciate it if you kept it quiet, I don't really want the whole school knowing that Malfoy and I are meeting out of school hours or the Slytherins would tear him apart and he won't come again, putting us right back at square one." She snapped. She had really enjoyed her hours with Malfoy and she wasn't going to let anyone ruin that.

"Okay, okay, sorry!" Harry said, turning to Ginny to tell her how beautiful her hair was and to stop fussing over it. Hermione would usually be sickened by these sorts of gestures, but instead she felt jealous and just wanted to be with Ron.

Ginny had just put her head back on Harry's shoulder when her eyes widened, and she turned to Hermione, pointing at the door to the Great Hall.

"Hermione, Ron's here." She said. She obviously knew about Hermione and Harry's deal, as she smiled mischievously and turned to Harry, who looked rather guilty, and spoke.

"Hermione you should know, I told him." Hermione's face dropped and she turned white.

"You did what!" She hissed.

"Before you freak out you should know that he was really happy about it and I told him because I thought it would be easier for you. He's planning to ask you out, Hermione, I think you should go to him." He said. But before she could react, Ron was behind her, making her face turn beetroot and her hands trembled nervously. She saw Harry and Ginny look up at Ron standing behind her, both expecting something to happen.

"Hermione?" Ron said, and she felt him move closer.

"Yes?" she replied.

Ron took her hand and turned her around to face him, his eyes piercing hers. She felt her heart beating desperately against her chest, and she took a deep breath and looked up, mirroring his stare. Ron pulled her into him, and put his left arm around her waist, and Ginny gave out an exited high-pitched squeal, but Ron and Hermione's eyes never broke contact, locked together in fear and desperation. He raised their still entwined hands up to Hermione's cheek, and her hand moved to his shoulder while his caressed her soft, silky cheek. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, the pool of heat flooding the pit of her stomach. Any sounds happening around them were blurred and unclear, and before Hermione could lose her entire train of thought, Ron's face was slowly coming closer to hers, and she could feel his warm, peppermint breath hit her, sending a wild shiver down her spine, causing her to let out a small whine.

This seemed to make Ron lose himself, because in that same second his lips had collided with hers, crushing them together. Hermione closed her eyes and kissed back with everything she had, feeling Ron's plump lips mould into hers, and she put her arms around his shoulders, his moving down to wrap around her waist. The kiss seemed to last forever, their lips pushing against each other, and she never wanted to feel anything else, she felt elated, happier than she ever had been, she was so happy she could cry. This emotion became so powerful that she whimpered and Ron broke the kiss, throwing his head over her shoulder, pulling her into a tight embrace, and she returned it. She never wanted him to let go, she was so happy, so overcome with emotion that her whole body trembled, her heart heavy in her chest.

As she came back to her senses, she could hear the cheers, whooping and wolf-whistles coming from their fellow Gryffindors, who were joined by the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs. Apparently, the whole school had been waiting for this. Even some Slytherins were shouting "finally" and "it's about time. Hermione opened her eyes and saw over Ron's shoulder that even some of the teachers were applauding, McGonagall, Sprout, even Dumbledore was smiling happily.

Hermione pulled back and locked her eyes with Ron's. She couldn't say anything. She could hardly even breathe. It was Ron who broke the silence.

"Hermione, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked, smiling her favourite smile. Her knees almost broke beneath her, and she uttered, with all her might, her voice cracking, a huge, cheer inducing,

"Yes." Almost the entire hall were going wild now, applaud, whistles, Harry and Ginny were on their feet, applauding madly, Ginny looked close to tears, and Hermione had broken, tears streamed down her face and she sweetly kissed Ron again on the lips, and they took their seats opposite Harry and Ginny. Ron was her boyfriend. She was smiling and laughing so much, she almost didn't notice the flash of pearly white hair swoop out of the Hall.

* * *

><p>Malfoy stormed up to the seventh floor in a rage, wanting to tear the whole place apart, screaming at any student who even looked at him. His whole body was shaking and adrenaline was pumping through every vain in his body. He needed to scream. <em>How the fuck could she do that! Right in front of me! THAT FUCKING BITCH! <em>His mind _was _screaming, and as he took the stairs two at a time his heart was tangled in barbed wire, coiling tighter around it with every beat. _What the fuck is going on!_ He scolded himself. He shouldn't be angry or upset about this. What did he care if Granger and that weasel bastard were going out? He was Draco fucking Malfoy; he could have any girl he ever wanted. _But you want her!_

"NO I FUCKING DON'T!" he blasted at some passing fourth year girls, who screamed at the sudden shock. _Yes you do, Draco, but you can't have her. You were too late and now weasel's got her. _"SHUT UP!" he screamed. Luckily, no one was around this time and he was nearing the seventh floor. By the time he reached the stretch of wall opposite the tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy teaching trolls ballet, he felt like he was going to explode. He turned to face the wall, and thought, not needing much effort, as the need was already pulsating through his body, _I need a place to tear apart…I need a place to tear apart…I need a place to tear apart._ He marched the corridor three times, and then stopped in front of where the door should appear, his patience wearing thin.

Sure enough, just as he was about to lose it, the wall at which he was staring produced a door so grand that even Malfoy Manor couldn't have beaten it. But he really couldn't give two shits about that right now. He pushed the door with all his might, the doors flying open, revealing a room full of household possessions; plates, mugs, bowls, ornaments, then he turned his head and saw multiple dummies standing straight, ready to be destroyed, shelving units full of fragile objects, the end of one holding a bat to smash things with. It was as if anything that could be smashed or ripped apart was in this room. _Good. _He thought. _I'll be here for a while._ He moved towards the bat, picked it up, and saw, in his mind's eye, Granger kissing Weasley. He felt the rage rise to his throat and he screamed a feral roar, feeling his voice box tear, he raised the bat behind him, swung it forwards and smashed every item on the shelves, he even put the shelves in pieces.

All the while he was doing this he was screaming incoherent words or sentences such as "Weasel bastard," "Mudblood bitch," and "they fucking deserve each other." He tore the room apart, throwing the dining equipment and ornaments at anything in sight, sending piles of them into shatters with the bat. Once every breakable thing was in shreds beneath him, he moved towards the dummies. He swung, and the first dummy swayed sideways, and stood again, as if trying to push Malfoy to his limit. He put everything he could into beating the dummy, picturing Weasley's face instead of the dummy's, picturing the bruises and the blood that would result on the body if it was real and living. "WHY THE FUCK" he screamed, dropping the bat and attacking the dummy with his bare hands, punching every inch of it, tearing at the leather, pulling it apart. "WHY THE FUCK DO I FEEL LIKE THIS! WHY DO I FUCKING LIKE HER! SHE'S A FUCKING MUDBLOOD!" he heard his words and the rage was gone, the anger was still there, but he had no energy left. He fell to his knees, clinging to the dummy, his nails ripping down its torso. "Why the fuck do I like her," he whispered, and then the tears came. His body was still shaking and now it started convulsing, spams attacking every couple of seconds, his breath hitching. "She's just a fucking Mudblood," he cried. "What the fuck is going on?" He wasn't expecting to feel like this. He was angry, upset, crying, over the fact that Granger and Weasley were together. That she'd kissed him, and not Draco.

He hadn't even really known her for a day and now he was falling apart because she didn't want him. He shouldn't even be speaking to her. What would everyone say? After a few minutes of scolding himself over why he liked her or what the hell he was doing, self-disgust began to kick in. What the hell was wrong with him? He had become a completely different person in one day. A person whom he liked being, a person who was happy; himself. He had always felt like no one wanted him and he had really thought she did, what with how easily she was getting on with him and how she had looked at him in class that day. But no. Even she didn't want him. And that was a blow he could not take. It was too much, this feeling, there were too many emotions running through his body.

As he lay there, curled up on the ground of the room of requirement, sobbing uncontrollably for what felt like hours, he drifted off into a deep sleep. Where he dreamt that it had been him kissing Granger, and the entirety of the wizarding world approved. A scenario, that even in his dream, he knew would never come true.

* * *

><p>Authors Note: Hey everyone! I know this chapters a bit shorter than the others but I thought there was so much going on it didn't really need any more.<p>

I know it's unusual but I really liked the idea of Draco falling for Hermione first, as it shows that he is an actual human being with feelings, and I thought this scene showed how fragile he is as a person.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, please review!


	4. Chapter 4

The next couple of days passed far too quickly for Hermione's liking. She spent the entire Sunday by Ron's side, and on Monday all of her free time hand in hand with him. The entire school knew about them, it was pretty hard not to, Hermione thought, because Ron was always grabbing her and kissing her in the middle of corridors or in the Great Hall. They'd already had a warning from Professor McGonagall to give it a rest. Even Harry seemed to be keeping his distance. Despite how much she loved Ron she couldn't help feel like he was just kissing her in public to make a show of himself. But despite this she couldn't remember ever feeling happier. On Monday morning though, she woke up and warned herself not to let Ron distract her from her schoolwork, and with a very small effort, glad to be getting some peace from him, she got ready for the day. When she arrived in the common room full of sleepy students meeting their friends before breakfast, she spotted Harry and Ginny sat together by the table. She made her way over with a grin and dropped her bag onto the table when she got there.

"Morning, Hermione," Ginny said, putting her hand over her mouth to suppress a yawn.

"You okay?" Harry asked as she sat down.

"Fine thanks, you two?"

"Fine," they replied together.

"Ron should be down in a minute," Harry explained, and at his words Hermione couldn't help but feel awkward and a little offended, as if Harry thought Ron was her one and only priority.

"Harry, just so you know, my life doesn't revolve around Ron. And don't worry, I'm not going to let it. You know me better than that." She smirked. She didn't want this to turn into an argument.

"I know that. I just, I don't know, I'm not used to seeing you with anyone and I suppose I'm getting protective over you, you're like my little sister." Harry replied affectionately. This made Hermione smile, she thought of Harry like a brother too.

"Yeah, except for the fact that I'm older than you." She laughed. Harry returned a short laugh and a nod and then Ron was next to her, stretching, his clothes obviously just thrown on. "Honestly," she said, shaking her head and straightening Ron's jumper, "anyone would think you'd slept in these clothes." She stood up to straighten his tie as he looked down at her admiringly.

"Sorry, mum." He teased, grinning and leaning down to plant a quick kiss on her lips.

"Are we going down to breakfast then?" She said with a sigh, turning to Harry and Ginny, and they all made their way down to the Great Hall to begin the day.

* * *

><p>As Malfoy made his way down the stairs to Charms, he made a point of avoiding anyone he would usually speak to. He had spent all of Sunday in his bed, drawing, without going down to the Great Hall for any food. He hadn't eaten since Saturday night but he really wasn't hungry, the thought of food made his stomach turn. He had mostly drawn Granger, her different features, her magical eyes, or drawn horrible things happening to Weasel. He still had a lump the size of a boulder in his throat but he hadn't cried at all since the Room of Requirement. He was all cried out. He hated himself for being so pathetic, he hadn't expected to ever have this reaction to anything, much less a girl, and even less Granger. He felt so stupid and he wasn't upset any more, he was angry. Angry at Granger for leading him on, even if it was without realising, angry at Weasley for kissing her in the middle of the Great Hall as if to rub it in his face, Angry at his father and his family for making him believe it's wrong to love a Mudblood, but mostly he was furious with himself, for letting his guard down and allowing himself to fall, knowing exactly where he was heading, and for allowing himself to think that a girl like that would ever want a boy like him. Who is he, to compare to the Chosen One Potter and the Sidekick Hero Weasley. He is nothing but a boy so afraid of disappointing his parents that he would push his own beliefs away. He felt absolutely worthless and hopeless, but didn't want anyone to see him seem weak, so he was avoiding everyone.<p>

In Charms, he luckily arrived before Granger and took his seat, where he usually only had to glance forward and he would see Grangers bushy head, two rows ahead of him to the right. He heard them coming in then, Weasley and Potter rabbiting on about something he didn't give a shit about, and Granger walking between them, looking from one to the other. Malfoy knew she was only pretending to listen, because her eyes were unfocused and she kept glancing towards her seat, as if desperate to get away from them. This would have made him smile, but they'd already walked past him with her not even noticing he was there, which, even though he didn't want to talk to her, stung a little, because he really did expect her to say hello or something. No, she didn't give a toss about him, and this would help him move on and forget about her. He turned his head to his book as Flitwick started talking, and only after he'd finished did Malfoy look up to see Granger smiling at him. His heart did a kind of somersault in his chest, but then he remembered the events of Saturday and turned his head away without smiling. _Shit, _he thought, _shouldn't have done that. S__he'll want answers._ He hoped that she would brush it off because she thought Malfoy didn't want to be seen co-operating with her, but he knew she was much smarter than that. So all he had to do now was wait for the blow. But surprisingly, it didn't come.

* * *

><p>The next day, Hermione made her way towards her seat next to Malfoy in Transfiguration, smiling brightly and hugging her books to her chest.<p>

"Good morning." She said, but he didn't even look at her. _I'm not starting this again._ "Look, Malfoy, try all you want, but I am not going to play along with your games. We got on really well over the weekend, so don't spoil it by being childish. And don't think I didn't notice you brushing me off in Charms yesterday. Please, if you don't want to be friendly with me anymore for whatever reason you may have come up with in the space of a day, that's fine, but at least try to be civil until we've finished this assignment." Wow, she didn't mean all of that to come out at once. Malfoy just stared back at her accusingly, as if she should know why he was acting like this. But she had no idea.

"Whatever, Granger." He replied. It took all of her strength for Hermione not to slam her books down and storm out, but instead she bit her lip and sat down next to him, determined to ignore every snide comment. The lesson went reasonably well, Malfoy only said a few words, granted, they were usually snapped or hissed, but a few hissed words were better than a full on argument. They continued with the assignment in silence after Hermione suggested what to do next and Malfoy uttered a sharp "fine." But because she was determined not to let him off that easy, she just smiled and made jokes, even if he didn't reply, she would just laugh and turn back to her work, not allowing herself to snap because she knew this is what would annoy him the most. Therefore when the bell rang and Malfoy scrambled to collect his things and shoot out, she called after him.

"Thanks for the help, Malfoy, much appreciated." She called sweetly. This way, when asked by Harry and Ron what was going on, she would tell them that she was struggling and Malfoy helped her. Giving them a reason to be nice to him, another thing that would piss Malfoy off. Why shouldn't she? He pissed her off so it was only fair. Unfortunately though, this plan failed miserably.

"Just watch him, Hermione, I don't trust him." Ron warned, to which Hermione rolled her eyes at him for the millionth time this week. It was going to take a lot to get Ron to even be civil with Malfoy.

The next few days flew past in a blur. Malfoy stayed in his mood throughout all their lessons together, and Ron was at Hermione's side at every second possible. It was kind of like having a cat and a dog, The cat only wants to know when it's good enough for him, but the dog follows you around everywhere, even more than your own shadow. She loved that Ron was her boyfriend now, but each day she couldn't help but notice how he seemed to think he could control her now. She would get up and say she was going to the library, and he would reply with "No, stay here with me," or "I'll come with you," or even "can you pick me up a book." She was beginning to feel like she had to run everything by him before she did it, and it was driving her insane. So when Friday night arrived, these thoughts racing through her mind, she stood up from the table made up of her, Ron, Harry, and Ginny, shutting her books.

"I'm going for a walk." She announced, and swept out of the Gryffindor common room before Ron had a chance to protest.

In her subconscious, she must have known where she was going, but in the front of her mind her thoughts about her relationship with Ron were flashing so quickly that she wasn't registering her surroundings. However when she woke from her daze from a crisp brown leaf brushing against her nose in the wind, she found herself walking towards Malfoy, sat by his tree and drawing as usual.

She wasn't going to try to annoy him, she just wanted to relax for a bit and felt like she could do that with him if he wasn't still in a bad mood. So she dropped down beside him, smiling gently.

"Hello," she said cautiously. Malfoy almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of her.

"Fuck, Granger you've GOT to stop doing that!" he snapped, stuffing what she supposed was a spare, empty school book down beside him as if he didn't want her to see what he was drawing. "What the fuck do you want?" She frowned at his use of profanities and took a deep breath to collect her patience. She thought he wouldn't have been in a mood with just the two of them there.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you again," she smiled. "I just feel really stressed and I thought if I was with you I could relax." This embarrassed her, as she hadn't really thought about it until now and now she did think about it she realised just how much she liked spending time with Malfoy.

"So I'm just your shoulder to cry on am I?" he replied, picking his drawing book back up.

"No!" Hermione cried, offended that he believed this "Malfoy, I'm here because I enjoy your company, and I see you as a friend." She told him honestly. He seemed to consider this and then frowned again.

"Why don't you go cry to your other friends, you've been snogging Weasel's face off all week, why can't you go spill all your troubles to your own boyfriend." Malfoy said sharply.

"Well, actually," she replied quietly, "it's him that's stressing me out." At her words, Malfoy looked up at her for the first time since she'd arrived, as if suddenly interested in what she had to say.

"And why is that? You seemed pretty happy when he first tried to suck your face off." He said. Hermione cleared her throat.

"Ignoring that comment." She said, and she told Malfoy how she was feeling. She knew he was probably the last person she should be talking to about her relationship with Ron but she felt so comfortable around him and he listened so well. Of course, he was making plenty of unnecessary comments but she just ignored them and carried on talking. By the time she'd finished, Malfoy was frowning so harshly she thought he had a headache. But then he spoke.

"Granger," he said quietly, "why the hell are you still with him if he's pissing you off so much?"

"Because, I…I love him, Malfoy I really do." Hermione said, as if reassuring herself rather than him.

"No, no you don't." Malfoy said. His voice rising, he got to his feet. "I see the way you look each time he tries to kiss you. You look absolutely repulsed by him! Like you would rather be kissing a fucking troll!" Hermione followed him to her feet.

"What? No! That's not true at all! I love kissing him it just…gets a bit too much," she said shyly, as if only realising herself how she felt.

"For fucks sake Granger wake up! You're so obviously unhappy with him and anyone with any sense can see that!" Hermione sat back down by the tree.

"Malfoy, you don't understand, when I kiss Ron, it feels good, but, each time I just expect something to happen inside like the first time we kissed, but now I just get disappointed." She picked up the drawing pad, lost in thought, not registering what was on the papers she was flicking through, not realising that Malfoy had frozen with panic. "I just…"

But then the pictures registered. She saw herself drawn in the book, multiple times, each making her look more beautiful than she'd ever felt, and always so much detail. Had Malfoy drawn these? Each one looked at her in shock that she'd found the drawings, and then looked towards where Malfoy was standing. The real Hermione followed their gaze, looking up at Malfoy who was stood like a statue with his hand over his mouth.

"Malfoy," she asked softly, "what are these? Are they supposed to be me?" He didn't reply, he just closed his eyes. "Why would you draw pictures of me? I mean, I'm flattered, but…why?" Malfoy had regained control of his body and moved forward to snatch the drawing pad from Hermione's grasp.

"None of your business!" he snapped. _What? Drawings of me aren't my business?_ Hermione thought.

"Of course they're my business! They're of me!" She shouted, getting to her feet again and walking towards him.

"They're nothing Granger!" He shouted back, moving closer to her. "I'm just…trying to practice drawing people and the only girls I've spent enough time to be able to draw well enough are you and Parkinson, and I'm not drawing her because she's so fuck ugly!" His face suddenly fell at the sound of these words and swept away, disappearing from sight, leaving Hermione stood next to the tree, utterly confused.

Later that evening, when Ron had disappeared for 5 minutes, Hermione told Harry what had happened. He was really angry with her for going to Malfoy for comfort, and became so furious when she told him about the drawings that she completely regretted talking to him.

"Hermione, what the hell!" he hissed, trying not to allow other people to hear.

"I know! Well, no actually I don't know but please promise me Harry that you won't tell Ron, he'll be 10 times as angry as you are." She pleaded.

"What are you doing? You are asking me to keep secrets about you and Draco Malfoy from your boyfriend! From Ron! Why do you trust Malfoy and not Ron?" He asked.

"What? Harry! I do trust Ron! Of course I do! Anyway you can't talk, you wouldn't tell him about you and Ginny!" Hermione snapped back.

"That was different!" he said.

"Look, Harry, I'm not discussing this now. Just please promise me you won't tell him."

"Fine, but just promise me that you'll be careful about Malfoy, what he's doing is really not right."

"Yes, okay Harry, but you of all people should know that there are much worse things than drawing someone." She said, and got up from her seat. "Goodnight, Harry."

"Night, Hermione." He replied. Hermione smiled and made her way up to the girls dormitories, her mind racing.

* * *

><p>The next day Malfoy made a point to stay away from his tree, afraid that Granger might show up demanding an explanation, because there was no way she believed what he'd told her. Instead he found himself sat in a deserted corridor on the fourth floor, drawing Hermione at the Yule Ball, looking more beautiful than all of the girls at Hogwarts put together. The night before he had torn all of his drawings out of the book and stuffed them into his suitcase, afraid that Hermione would find them again. He still couldn't stop himself from drawing her though. He felt so peaceful doing it, so peaceful in fact, that he didn't see Potter walking towards him until their feet were almost meeting at the toes.<p>

"Malfoy." Potter said, with a warning tone in his voice. Malfoy stood immediately, closing the drawing book and holding it in his right hand.

"What the fuck do you want, Potter?" He snapped.

"Can I see that?" Potter asked, ignoring Malfoy's words.

"As if." He hissed back. "Now fuck off before I hex your head off."

"You're not going to scare me away that easily. _Accio!_" Potter yelled, and the book came zooming towards him, landing in his left hand. Then before Malfoy had a chance to react, Harry shouted "Protego!" And Malfoy was pushed back behind the invisible barrier between the two of them. He then opened the drawing pad, and Malfoy saw his face drop in shock. _Shit! _He thought. Granger must have told him.

"Malfoy, why are you drawing pictures of Hermione?" Potter asked, surprisingly calmly.

"None of your business!" Malfoy shouted back. He hadn't even thought to use his own wand, he was concentrating too much on getting the book back.

"Stay away from her, do you hear me? Stay away from her!" Potter was shouting now, too.

"She's the one who keeps running to me!" he replied.

"I don't care. If I find out you've touched her I'll kill you." Potter threatened, "I'm serious, Malfoy."

"Whatever, Potter, just fuck off will you? And give me my book back before I kill you, because trust me, I won't hesitate." Malfoy snarled.

"Stay away." Potter warned. He then threw the book to Malfoy's feet and walked away.

_Why the fuck didn't I get my wand out?_ Malfoy thought as he picked up the book. He couldn't ahe was? But, Potter doing this kind of made him want to deliberately go after Granger, just because he really did not want to do anything Potter told him to.

That night, Malfoy sat in the Slytherin common room, reading, (he wouldn't dare draw in front of these lot) whilst Blaise, Crabbe and Goyle sat around him, talking pathetically about girls.

"Pansy's gorgeous isn't she?" Crabbe said in awe. _No, she's fucking ugly, _thought Malfoy.

"Yeah, but I don't like it when they try to be smart arses, they're harder to manipulate." Goyle sniggered." _I love smart girls._

"As if you could manipulate a girl anyway," said Blaise, "your face is enough to send them running for the Shrieking Shack!" Malfoy had to agree there. Out of all his so called friends, Malfoy only trusted Blaise, and actually did consider him a friend. "The only one of us who probably could get a girl is Malfoy." He said, turning to look at Draco.

"Yeah, right," Malfoy scoffed, "I may be the good-looking one, but my family history is enough to scare away any decent, smart girl." He said, which, he truly believed.

"Oh, please." A new voice had joined the conversation. The boys looked up to see Pansy Parkinson walking towards Malfoy's chair, her hands running along its top while she lowered herself over it to Malfoy's level. "You're Draco Malfoy, you could have any girl you ever wanted." She purred. Malfoy wasn't sure if she was offering or if she was expecting a compliment back, but she wasn't getting either. Malfoy just cringed at the sight of her, because she was always all over him like a leech. But he had to admit she had a point. He'd seen multiple girls in school and out looking at him and giggling childishly with their friends, pointing him out, and he'd had many offers, but he hadn't taken any up because for one, they were either ugly or stupid, and two, he didn't want a girlfriend. He didn't want any more stress than he already had, and having a foolish girl follow him around all day trying to suck at his face constantly would drive him insane. But Pansy had made Malfoy curious now, and there was one girl he could think of who wouldn't be his shadow, who was intelligent, and beautiful, and who would never be manipulated, but then, he was Draco Malfoy, and he loved a challenge.

* * *

><p>On Saturday morning, Hermione went straight down to the library. She still wasn't in the right state of mind to deal with Ron, and she was too occupied to eat. She didn't even have any homework to do, but the library was her sanctuary, a place where she could be left in peace for hours. Once there, she decided to find a book she hadn't read yet, and spotted one on a shelf she couldn't quite reach. As she moved onto her tiptoes though, a hand grabbed the book and pulled it down in front of her. "Thank you," she said, not moving as she knew who was behind her.<p>

"You're welcome," he whispered into her ear, making her shudder. She turned slowly to find Draco Malfoy's face inches away from her own, and the sight of his stunning grey eyes caught her off guard and she gasped.

"Surprised to see me?" Malfoy hummed, and his hands rested on either side the shelves behind her, trapping her between him and the books. Her heart began hammering against her chest as she felt his warm, apple scented breath hit her top lip.

"What do you want?" Hermione muttered, a little intimated. But at the same time, she felt amazing. She felt hot and could feel herself begin to sweat and tremble at the sight of him so close. His hair falling over his forehead, eyes staring her down. _What on earth is going on? _She thought. But she knew. She knew this feeling at its minimum, but had never thought it could feel like _this _and she certainly didn't think it could with him. She wanted him closer, but they were already so close their bodies were against each other and all she could hear and feel was their breathing, mingled together. She was attracted to Malfoy, there was no denying it.

The adrenaline running through her body was sending her mad and she just wanted to lunge at him but she knew she couldn't. The only other person in the library was Madame Pince and she was nowhere to be seen because they were so deep in. She had to push him away. She put her hands flat on his chest to do so but at the feeling of his slender body underneath his thin shirt made her breath catch in her throat and the adrenaline pulse to a part of her body she'd never allowed herself to think about. She froze, and looked up at him, their eyes locking together. The feeling was so amazing that she had to close her eyes to stop him seeing them roll back slightly, and she began feeling a little dizzy.

"What do you want Malfoy?" she tried to his, but it just came out in such a low growl that she made herself jump.

"Well," he replied. The feeling his purring voice gave her made her knees buckle a little, but his hand flew to her hip, his thumb rubbing circles against her robes.

She felt so ashamedly aroused that she couldn't move to stop him. "I want you." He said, and before she could fully fall to the ground his lips had collided with hers, crashing against each other. Hermione threw her arms over his shoulder and he picked her up to sit her on the shelves.

Their kiss was so intense that her lips were soaked, but she couldn't let go, she could never let go. Malfoy let out a feral groan against her lips, and the vibration and the sound almost sent her over the edge and her hands dug into Malfoy back, causing him to hiss with arousal, as he began kissing her even harder than she thought possible.

It was the most amazing feeling in the world, his hands all over her, her heart hammering madly against her chest, her legs moist with sweat, she just wanted to cry to relieve some of the tension, but she would not break be the one to part their lips, she wanted to stay like this forever.

* * *

><p><strong>Authors Note:<strong> Hey guys, I know it's been like forever since I updated but I've just been so busy I really haven't had the time, which is also why this chapter is so shit but I just really wanted to get it up.

I know it probably seems a little early for them to get together but I wanted to concentrate on what they go through together, rather than what happens before.

I hope you enjoy this chapter though I doubt you will, and I promise I will try and get the next one up a bit earlier, but I'm working 3 jobs now so be patient! :D

If you have any questions at all please take them to my tumblr, **.com **

And please, please please please, REVIEW! Seriously guys you're comments mean so much and I completely welcome constructive criticism I honor you opinions.

THANK YOU FOR BEING PATIENT.

Loves xxxx


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